Fears of Domestic Surveillance

For John, BLUF:  The Democrats in power seem to be gearing up for more domestic surveillance.  We have been here before, and it wasn't pretty.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Tulsi Gabbard:  Domestic-Terrorism Bill Is ‘a Targeting of Almost Half of the Country’

From The National Review, by Writer Brittany Bernstein, 23 January 2021, 10:05 AM.

Here is the lede plus three:

Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic representative from Hawaii, on Friday expressed concern that a proposed measure to combat domestic terrorism could be used to undermine civil liberties.

Gabbard’s comments came during an appearance on Fox News Primetime when host Brian Kilmeade asked her if she was “surprised they’re pushing forward with this extra surveillance on would-be domestic terror.”

“It’s so dangerous as you guys have been talking about, this is an issue that all Democrats, Republicans, independents, Libertarians should be extremely concerned about, especially because we don’t have to guess about where this goes or how this ends,” Gabbard said.

She continued:  “When you have people like former CIA Director John Brennan openly talking about how he’s spoken with or heard from appointees and nominees in the Biden administration who are already starting to look across our country for these types of movements similar to the insurgencies they’ve seen overseas, that in his words, he says make up this unholy alliance of religious extremists, racists, bigots, he lists a few others and at the end, even libertarians.”

Ms Gabbard is giving us the straight word here.  In the name of domestic tranquility the current Congress and Administration could initiate domestic spying and cause Citizens to restrict their Free Speech in order to avoid drawing attention to themselves  This is the antipithy of the American Way.  This would make us more like some Cold War Socialist nation.

some of the names associated with this kind of talk, such as Former FBI Director James Comey (he who calls for burning down the Republican Party) and former CIA Director John Brennan, are scary from a Civil Rights point of view.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff